Irene Gut Opdyke

Holocaust 'angel' spreads message By Kelly Milner HallsSpecial to The Denver PostIN MY HANDS Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer By Irene Gut Opdyke Knopf, $18 Dec. 12 - When World War II survivor Irene Gut Opdyke joined forces with talented children's author Jennifer Armstrong to write her autobiography, "In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer'' (Knopf, $18), she was no stranger to today's young people. For more than a decade, Opdyke, now 77 years old, has spoken to thousands of exuberant middle- and high-school students about her youth in Nazi-occupied Poland. And each time she speaks, each time she casts her faraway stare into the restless, murmuring crowd, her tiny, almost fragile 5-foot frame is transformed into a tower of strength. Softly, she speaks - to the crowds and in the pages of her intensely moving new book. Even as her first well-chosen words float on the wings of painful memory, her shining begins. Powerful team Opdyke has seen unspeakable things. Armstrong grasps and understands the potentially unfathomable ordeal, so together they have something important and honest to say. "I was not a special person,'' Opdyke says. "I was not a saint.'' Perhaps not, say the 12 Jews she singlehandedly saved from certain Nazi extermination, but for them, she was no less than a guardian angel, an angel who survived a journey through hell. Opdyke was a 17-year-old nursing student when Russian and German forces began to squabble over her native Poland in 1938. A devout Catholic, she could have turned a deaf ear on the plight of the European Jew. "But it is possible,'' she says, "no matter how young you are, to understand that we all belong to one human family and that we are all responsible for each other.'' That sentiment is at the core of Opdyke's life, her speeches and her powerful book. And while it would be impossible to express the degree of humiliation and torture she witnessed during her homeland's foreign occupation in the brevity of a book review, "In My Hands'' brilliantly captures the mindboggling truth. Opdyke's candor and Armstrong's powerful interpretation make this a difficult book to read at times. The depiction is unyielding - from Opdyke's rape at the hands of Russian soldiers to her eyewitness accounts of murder and brutality, to her selfless devotion to harboring adult Jews slated for execution. But the same unflinching truth that makes "In My Hands'' hard to read also makes it impossible to put down. Why, after more than 50 years, did Opdyke decide to share such an intimate portrait? "I have a great love for the young people of today,'' she says, "because I was alone when the war started. I was away from my family.'' Through her trials and tribulations, Opdyke discovered faith could offer solace, and kindness could see her through. "I asked God to help me, and I survived,'' she says. "I asked God please to help me save lives, and I was able to do all I could. "I discovered, we are not born only for ourselves,'' she continues, "we are born to help when help is needed.'' Not here for glory That message, according to Opdyke, is something young people are waiting eagerly to hear. "For 30 years I'm speaking in schools to children,'' she says. "I tell them, "I am here not for money. I am not here for glory.' I tell them, "I am here because I love you. I was alone and I know how hard it is when you feel alone and don't know where to turn.' I tell them, "You have to find in your heart the strength to survive.' And I tell them, "Regardless of nationalities, color or creed, we are all children of God.'- '' Audience response It was the unwavering response of the young people who heard her speak, according to Opdyke, that inspired the birth of "In My Hands.'' "When I finish speaking, boys and girls, even the big macho ones, lined up and said, "May I have a hug?' "Children need to feel that love before they can seek out their own humanity,'' she says. "I tell them, "Courage is just a whisper from above.' I say, "If you listen with your heart and your head, you will learn to do what courage tells you. You will learn to do what is right.'- '' "In My Hands'' takes that message a step further. It reminds us that courage can survive the sting of death and evil. Truth endures, as long as we individually struggle to keep it alive. Kelly Milner Halls is a freelance book reviewer who is a regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Teen People magazine and the Book Report on America Online.

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